Read the Gospels in 40 Days

Pilate asks Jesus questions

23 All the people at the meeting stood up to leave. They took Jesus to stand in front of Pilate.^{[a] 2} Then they all started to tell Pilate that Jesus had done bad things. They said, ‘We found this man when he was telling our people wrong things. He said that we must not pay taxes to the Roman government. He also said that he himself is the Messiah, that is, a king.’

³ Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus replied, ‘You have said it.’

⁴ Pilate then said to the leaders of the priests and to all the crowd of people, ‘I cannot find any reason to say that this man is guilty.’ ⁵ But they continued to speak strongly to him. They said, ‘He makes the people angry and ready to fight against the government. He has taught these bad things everywhere in Judea. He started in Galilee and now he has come to Jerusalem.’

⁶ When Pilate heard this, he asked if Jesus came from Galilee. ⁷ He discovered that he was from the country where Herod ruled. So Pilate sent Jesus to stand in front of Herod. Herod was also in Jerusalem at that time.^[b]

Herod asks Jesus questions

⁸ Herod was very happy to see Jesus. He had heard about him and he had wanted to meet him for a long time. He wanted to see Jesus do something to show God's power. ⁹ He asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus did not answer any of them. ¹⁰ The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law stood there. They were shouting out that Jesus had done many bad things. ¹¹ Then Herod and his soldiers started to laugh at Jesus. They were saying things to make him feel bad. They put a beautiful coat on him. Then they sent him back to Pilate. ¹² That same day, Herod and Pilate became friends. Until then, they had not liked each other.

Pilate and the Jewish leaders argue about Jesus

¹³ Pilate then told the leaders of the priests, the leaders of the Jews and the people to come back to him. ¹⁴ He said to them, ‘You brought this man to me. You said that he was causing the people to fight against their rulers. Listen! I have asked him some questions in front of you. But I have not found that he has done anything wrong. ¹⁵ Herod also did not find that he had done anything wrong. That is why he has sent him back to me. You can see this. He has not done anything bad that means he ought to die. ¹⁶ So I will just punish him. I will command a soldier to hit him with whips. Then I will let him go.’

¹⁷ [Pilate usually let one person go free out of the prison at Passover time.]^[c]

¹⁸ But the crowd all shouted together, ‘Take this man away and kill him! We want Barabbas to go free.’

¹⁹ Barabbas had fought against the Roman rulers in Jerusalem. He had also killed somebody. That is why the rulers had put him in prison. ²⁰ But Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go. So he spoke to the crowd again. ²¹ But they continued to shout. They were shouting, ‘Kill him on a cross, kill him on a cross.’^[d]

²² Pilate asked them the same question for the third time. ‘Why should I kill him? What wrong things has he done? You want me to say that he should die. But I have not found anything wrong that would cause me to say that. So I will punish him. I will command my soldiers to hit him with a whip. Then I will let him go.’

²³ But they continued to shout at Pilate, ‘Kill him on a cross.’ They continued to shout very much. So, in the end, ²⁴ Pilate did what they wanted. ²⁵ They had asked Pilate to let Barabbas go free out of the prison. He was the man that had caused the Jewish people to fight against the Roman rulers. He had also killed somebody. He was the man that Pilate let go free. As for Jesus, Pilate commanded the soldiers to take him away. He let the people do to him what they wanted.

They kill Jesus on a cross

²⁶ So the soldiers took Jesus away, to go to the place where they would kill him. On the way, they took hold of a man called Simon. This man was from the town of Cyrene. He was coming in from outside the city. The soldiers took the cross that Jesus was carrying on his shoulders. They made Simon carry it instead as he walked behind Jesus.

²⁷ A very large crowd of people were following Jesus. There were many women among them. They were crying with loud voices. They were weeping and crying because they were very sad. ²⁸ So Jesus turned round and he said to them, ‘You women that live in Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Instead, cry for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ Listen! Days will come when people will say, “It is better for those women that could not have babies. Those women that never had babies to feed are the happy ones!” ³⁰ People will begin to say, “It would be better if we were dead.” They will ask the mountains to fall on top of them. They will ask the hills to cover them up. ³¹ There is much trouble and pain now. But much worse things will happen! Now the fire burns slowly. But soon it will be like a fire that quickly burns dry wood!’^[e]

³² The soldiers also took two other men out of the prison. These men had done bad things. The soldiers would kill them and Jesus together. ³³ They took them to the place that is called ‘The Skull’. There they fixed Jesus to a cross to die. They also fixed the two bad men to crosses. One of these men was on the right side of Jesus. The other was on his left side.

³⁴ Jesus said, ‘Father, these people do not know what they are doing. So please forgive them.’

The soldiers then picked up Jesus' clothes for themselves. They played a game to decide who would receive each piece of his clothes. ³⁵ The people stood there and they were watching. The Jewish leaders were laughing at Jesus. They said, ‘He saved other people, did he? Then he should save his own life! Then we will know that he is really the Messiah, the man that God has chosen.’

³⁶ The soldiers also laughed at him. They came up to him and they offered him cheap wine to drink. ³⁷ They said, ‘If you are really the King of the Jews, save your own life.’

³⁸ There was also a notice fixed at the top of the cross. It said, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

³⁹ One of the bad men on a cross at the side of Jesus started to insult him. He shouted, ‘You say that you are the Messiah, don't you? Then save your own life and save our lives too!’

⁴⁰ But the bad man on the other cross told him that he should be quiet. He said, ‘You should be more afraid of God. We will die here, as well as him. ⁴¹ We two men have done very bad things. So it is right that we should die. But this man has not done anything wrong.’ ⁴² Then the man said to Jesus, ‘Remember me, Jesus, when you start to rule in your kingdom.’ ⁴³ Jesus replied, ‘I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.’

Jesus dies

⁴⁴ It was now about midday. The whole country became dark for three hours. ⁴⁵ The sun did not give any light. Then the curtain inside the temple tore into two parts. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus shouted loudly, ‘Father, I give my spirit to you.’ After he shouted this, he died.

⁴⁷ There was a captain of the soldiers there. When he saw what had happened, he praised God. He said. ‘I am sure that this man had not done anything wrong.’

⁴⁸ A very big crowd had come together to watch the men die. They saw what had happened. Then they began to go home. They were very sad, and they were hitting their own bodies with their hands. ⁴⁹ The friends of Jesus were there. The women that had come with him from Galilee were also there. They were all standing a long way away. They also saw what happened to him.

Joseph buries Jesus

⁵⁰ A man called Joseph was also there. He was one of a special group of important Jewish leaders.^[f] He was a good man that wanted to do right things. ⁵¹ He was from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He had not agreed with the other leaders that Jesus should die. He was waiting for God to begin to rule his people in his kingdom.

⁵² So Joseph went to see Pilate. He asked Pilate for the dead body of Jesus. Pilate agreed to this. ⁵³ Joseph then went to the place where Jesus died. He took the dead body down from the cross. He put a piece of linen cloth around the body. Then he put the body into a large hole in the rock. People had made that hole to put dead bodies in, but it was the first time that anyone had used it.^[g]

⁵⁴ This all happened on the day before the Jewish day of rest. It was nearly time for the Jewish day of rest to begin.^[h]

Jesus becomes alive again

⁵⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph. They saw the place where the hole in the rock was. They also saw Joseph put Jesus' body into the empty hole. ⁵⁶ Then they returned to the house where they were staying in Jerusalem. They prepared spices and oil that had a beautiful smell. On the Jewish day of rest they obeyed God's Law and they did not work.

24 Very early on the first day of the week, they went to the place where Joseph had put Jesus' dead body. They took with them the spices that they had prepared. ² They arrived there. They found that someone had rolled the big stone away from the hole. ³ They went inside the hole in the rock, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus there. ⁴ They did not understand this at all. But while they were thinking about it, two men appeared. Their clothes shone brightly like lightning. These men came and stood beside them. ⁵ So the women became very afraid and they went down low with their faces on the ground.

The men said to the women, ‘This is a place to bury dead people. You should not be looking here for someone who is alive. ⁶ Jesus is not here. He has become alive again! Remember what he said to you, while he was still with you in Galilee. ⁷ He said, “It is necessary that someone should give the Son of Man into the power of bad men. They will kill him on a cross. But three days later he will become alive again.” ’

⁸ Then the women remembered the words that Jesus had said in Galilee. ⁹ They left the hole where Jesus' body had been. They went to the 11 apostles. They told them what had happened. They also told all the other people who were there. ¹⁰ It was Mary from Magdala, Joanna, James' mother Mary, and other women who were with them that told the news about Jesus to the apostles. ¹¹ But they did not believe what the women said. They thought that it was just a silly story. ¹² But Peter got up and he ran to the hole in the rock. He bent down and he looked inside. He saw only the pieces of linen cloth that they had put around Jesus' body. There was nothing else. So he went home again. He could not understand what might have happened.

Jesus shows himself to two disciples

¹³ Later on that same day, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village. The village was called Emmaus. It was about 11 kilometres from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking like this, Jesus himself came near to them. He started to walk along with them. ¹⁶ They saw him, but for some reason they did not recognize him. ¹⁷ Jesus asked them, ‘What are you talking about while you walk along the road?’

They stood still and they seemed sad. ¹⁸ One of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘Many things have happened in Jerusalem in the last few days. Are you the only visitor here that does not know about it?’ ¹⁹ Jesus asked them, ‘What things have happened?’

They replied, ‘The things that happened to Jesus who was from Nazareth. He was a prophet from God. He did many great things and he spoke powerful messages. God showed that his message was true. All the people believed him. ²⁰ Then the leaders of the priests and our rulers took hold of him. They gave him to the Roman ruler. They said that he had done bad things and that he ought to die. So they killed him by fixing him to a cross. ²¹ But before that we had hoped that he would save the people of Israel. We hoped that he would make us free again.

There are other things too. Today is the third day since Jesus died. ²² After all this happened, some women in our group surprised us. Early this morning, they went to the place where Joseph had put him. ²³ But they did not find his body there. So they returned to us and said, “Some angels appeared to us. They have told us that Jesus is alive.” ²⁴ So some people from our group went to the place where his body had been. They found everything just the same as the women had said. But they did not see Jesus.’

²⁵ Jesus then said to them, ‘How silly you are! You are very slow to believe everything that God's prophets said long ago. ²⁶ You should have known that the Messiah had to die. Only then would he return to heaven and show how great and powerful he is.’ ²⁷ Jesus then began to explain to them what Moses and all God's prophets had taught. He showed them what they wrote in the Bible about himself.

²⁸ Then they came near to the village that the disciples were going to. It seemed that Jesus would continue his journey. ²⁹ But they wanted him to stop there. They said to him, ‘Please stay in our home with us. It is getting late, and it will soon be night.’

So Jesus went into their house to stay with them. ³⁰ He sat down to eat with them. He took the bread and he thanked God for it. He broke it into pieces and he gave some to them. ³¹ Their eyes became clear and they recognized him. But then he disappeared, and they could no longer see him. ³² They said to each other, ‘When he talked to us, it was like a fire that was burning inside us. We felt it while we were walking along the road. We also felt it when he was explaining God's message in the Bible.’

³³ Immediately they got up and they returned to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 apostles and other people who were with them. ³⁴ The people there told the two disciples, ‘It is true! The Lord Jesus is alive again. He has appeared to Simon!’

³⁵ Then the two disciples spoke to the whole group. They told what had happened to them on the road to their village. They told how they recognized Jesus when he broke the bread into pieces in their home.

Jesus appears to the group

³⁶ While they were still speaking like that, Jesus himself stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’

³⁷ But the whole group was very surprised and afraid. They thought that they were seeing a spirit. ³⁸ Jesus said to them, ‘You should not be so afraid. You seem to have trouble in your minds about what you are seeing. ³⁹ Now look at my hands and my feet. It is really me! Touch me. Then you will know that I am not a spirit. A spirit does not have a body with skin and bones. You can see that I have a real body.’

⁴⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹ This was such good news, they were very happy. But they could still not really believe it. So he asked them, ‘Do you have anything that I could eat?’ ⁴² They gave him a piece of fish that they had cooked. ⁴³ While they were watching, he took it and he ate it.

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, ‘I told you about these things while I was still with you. Everything that God's servants wrote about me in the Bible had to happen. Moses wrote about me in his book of God's Law. The prophets also wrote about me. The book called Psalms also tells about me. And now it has become true.’

⁴⁵ Then he helped them to understand God's message in the Bible. ⁴⁶ He told them, ‘This is what it says there: The Messiah had to die. Then, after three days, he had to rise up and become alive again. ⁴⁷ People in every country of the world must hear God's message. They must stop doing wrong things and change how they live. When they do this, God will forgive them. He will forgive all the bad things that they have done. People need to tell this message about the Messiah in Jerusalem first, then tell people in other countries. ⁴⁸ You are the people who have seen what has happened here. You must tell other people about it. ⁴⁹ Now listen! I will send to you the gift that God my Father has promised to give to you. You must stay here in the city until this happens. Then the power of God will come from heaven and it will cover you.’

Jesus goes up to God in heaven

⁵⁰ Then Jesus led the group of his disciples out of the city. They all went to a place near the village called Bethany. He held up his hands towards them all. He asked God to be good to them. ⁵¹ While he was praying for them like that, he went up away from them. God lifted him up to heaven. ⁵² The disciples praised Jesus for his great power. Then they returned to Jerusalem and they were all very happy. ⁵³ All the time they were in the temple and they were praising God.